Living For A Lasting Kingdom

Good Morning!

It is good to see all of you.

I am excited to be in Phase 2 and I’m hoping that it will only last a few weeks and then we will be able to have even more people here.

In case you were unaware, we are not in phase 2 and that means that we can now have 60 people here.

That includes children, so we are going to have to be creative about who comes.

We will talk about that after church, but I’m excited about it.

I want to say thank you that were encouraging to me last week after the message.

I saw a re-post that Mattie put up this weekend that said that all that we are seeing and hearing is like drinking from a fire hose.

Even though this is hard, we must continue.

What we want is to stop and breathe, but now is not the time.

We need to continue to drink from that hose and learn.

But as we will see today, we need to let the Lord show us where and how to act.

Today in our passage we are going to hear additional challenges to the way we live and think, but this is how we grow.

God has us in this series, at this moment, to help us to see the reality of the world we live in AND to begin to see the world that our brothers and sisters of color have lived in for generations.

I want you to hear me say this from the outset today.

It is my goal that we would see what is happening in our world through God’s eyes.

That is the goal of the preacher, that we would have a perspective that is eternal.

Because we live under the umbrella time, we tend to think of our lives in that realm.

The preacher wants us to look beyond the right now, and allow God to work through us to bring forth the kingdom of God on the earth.

How we love God and one another is how we give this world a glimpse of God’s Kingdom.

As we saw last week, how we love reveals the nature of our hearts.

The choices we make, the words we say, and the actions we take reveal our heart for God.

It isn’t just enough to say you love God.

Your actions have to speak the same or it isn’t true.

With that in mind, let’s look at our passage for today.

Ecclesiastes 4:13–16 ESV

13 Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. 14 For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. 15 I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. 16 There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Looking at the first few verses, we see a comparison between two ends of a spectrum.

The poor and weak compared to the rich and powerful.

The wise and teachable versus foolish and close-minded.

Look at these two descriptions.

Ask yourself, which does the world encourage us to pursue?

Do we seek powerlessness or power?

Is wealth or poverty our goal?

Which of those two categories do we typically associate with the other?

We put the wise, powerful, and wealthy in one category.

In the other, we lump together weak, poor, and foolish.

However, that is not how the preacher categorizes them.

Even though the preacher is obviously in a position of wealth and power, he teaches that one doesn’t make the other.

Power isn’t synonymous with wisdom and poverty doesn’t equate to foolishness.

He says that it is better to be poor and wise than a rich king.

During this study, we have talked a lot about the upside-down nature of this world.

In this passage, the preacher is revealing that we have been seeing the world upside-down.

Our entire lives we bought into the idea that if a person has wealth and power that they must have wisdom.

We placed those people on a pedestal above all others.

Whether we realized it or not, we were giving people value based on a cultural standard, not on what God says about them.

We have become so desensitized by culture that we don’t see what is happening right in front of us.

Let me explain how this happens.

You may understand the process, but just to make sure we are on the same page I’m going to explain it.

When training a young horse we purposely put the horse in situations that make him uncomfortable.

Keep in mind that a horse’s natural response to danger is to run away.

We go to great extents to put the horse in as many situations as possible to turn off that natural desire to run from new, scary things.

We use plastic bags, sticks, tarps, loud noices, etc.

We make it so that when something new pops up, the horse pays no attention to it.

We go through that process so that when a child is around the horse and does something they aren’t supposed too, like walking under the horse, the horse doesn’t care.

You may not realize it, but the same thing has happened to you and me.

We are created in God’s image, are in a relationship with Him, and are supposed to feel and love the way He does.

However, we have been so desensitized that often, when tragic things happen, we respond like a well-trained horse.

We don’t react.

We are so accustomed to and trained by our culture that we don’t even see the upside-down nature of somethings.

We can’t see it until someone shines a spotlight on it and forces us to see the truth.

When that spotlight is shown, we are embarrassed that we didn’t see it before.

As a result, our knee jerk reaction is to deny the truth so we can continue to live in our happy bubble.

To understand this point, consider what most people assume about someone that is homeless.

They assume, with no evidence or knowledge, that the person is lazy, wreck-less, or addicted.

None of those things could be true, but because culture puts such an emphasis on success and defines that by the size of your account, they come to this conclusion.

When we read this passage, in light of what is going on in the world, we can now see the truth of it.

When we read about people in power that refuse to take advice, it rings in our ears in a way that it never has before.

But would it have made sense to us in the past?

I mentioned this last week, but we need to continually self-evaluate and ask God to reveal the places in our hearts and minds that we are still blind.

The American dream has taught us that in order to be successful in this life and to be happy, we need to spend our lives gaining wealth and power.

We have allowed ourselves to be led like sheep to the slaughter.

We march onward, chasing the American dream, with no clue that we are marching toward death, not life.

It’s the same twisted truth that Satan has been peddling since Adam and Eve.

His tactic hasn’t changed.

He takes what God has meant for good and twists is it so that it leads us away from God.

We then spend so much time and energy chasing that lie that we become entrenched.

The longer we pursue, the harder it is for us to correct our course.

After a while, we become immovable.

That is what the preacher is describing in verses thirteen.

Ecclesiastes 4:13 ESV

13 Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.

One is willing to learn and the other has forgotten or refuses to change.

The passage is referring specifically to warning about someone’s behavior.

The Hebrew word that is translated to advice is also translated as “to be admonished” or “warned”.

The king is unwilling to allow others to speak into his life about how he is treating others.

We need to ask ourselves on the regular if we are becoming the kind of people that won’t accept correction.

I am not implying that any of you won’t take correction.

This is simply a warning because as we look at ourselves and what it means to be a brother or sister with a POC, there are going to be some changes to the way we think, speak, and act.

We need to make sure that we haven’t closed ourselves off to change.

Often this doesn’t happen intentionally, but rather, we think we already understand.

I was telling Bethany this week about comments that I have heard in person or seen on Facebook, not by any of you, that show that so many are just like this king.

They are so entrenched in their culture that they are unwilling to even consider that things may not be what they seem.

They are unwilling to have their view of racism and justice challenged.

Because they are unwilling to think about what they really believe, they are perpetuating injustice.

I know for a fact that if you asked any of those people if justice was important, they would say yes that it is one of the most important things in life.

However, because they cannot see beyond themselves, they can’t see that they are part of the issue of injustice.

We have talked about how important it is for us, as believers, to continue to abide.

One of the reasons that are so important is because it allows the Holy Spirit to speak truth into our lives.

We need the Holy Spirit to continually reveal the sin in our own lives.

We need the Holy Spirit to work in us to change our hearts so that we see one another as He sees us.

If we are not abiding and allowing God to move and change our hearts, we are like the old king.

It is not our work that makes us like the wise youth.

Allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us that makes us like the wise youth.

That is the only way that we can go deeper into our understanding of the world, who God is, and what He is asking us to do in helping to bring the Truth into this world.

People don’t change quickly, but we can change continually if we are allowing God to work in our lives.

This world will only get better when the church is pursuing and obeying God.

Not just for a day or a season, but daily for the rest of their lives.

That will have more impact on the world than anything that man can do.

Instead of blindly following a lie that we can do it ourselves, let’s allow God to led us to life and truth.

Stop chasing a moving target and pursue the unchanging God.

I’m gonna ask you a weird question, but here me out on this one.

Have you ever tried to rope a pig?

Let me start by saying, pigs weren’t meant to be roped.

Their design is all wrong.

Also, if you do manage to rope a pig, then you have a serious problem.

you can’t out wrestle a pig.

I’ve tried this.

It didn’t go well.

When we spend our lives in pursuit of the American Dream, it is like trying to rope a pig.

We weren’t made for that and if we do, by some chance get our hands on it, we have even more problems.

We were made to live in community with God and one another.

To be honest with y’all, when God first lead me to Ecclesiastes, I felt like a big part of it was going to be God dismantling the parts of our minds that have been programmed to chase the A.D.

You might ask, what’s wrong with the A.D.?

From the very beginning of our country, the idea was to gain wealth and status.

Those two things aren’t inherently bad, but they become evil when we make those things the god of our lives.

As we are all aware, that desire for both is what led to slavery and the justification of it.

When we make gifts of God our idol it leads to evil and we are never satisfied.

In order to continue to build up our own kingdoms, we put our desire for wealth and status in priority over everything else.

Instead of living for what we were created for and enjoying life with God, we chase what the world tells us is worth of our time and resources.

The problem with that is that we are chasing things that are hevel.

They are temporary.

If we are chasing the American Dream, we chasing a moving target.

What it takes to “make it” is constantly changing.

Bigger and better things are released and the thing we spent so much time and money chasing is now second rate and we start the process all over again.

Ecclesiastes 4:15–16 NLT

15 But then everyone rushes to the side of yet another youth who replaces him. 16 Endless crowds stand around him, but then another generation grows up and rejects him, too. So it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.

Do you see why I say this is a moving target?

People work and struggle their whole lives to be someone or gain something that their peers say is what is to be achieved.

Then about the time they accomplish said things, those very people change the rules and now we are running after something different.

It is like chasing the wind.

It never ends.

It is the hamster wheel of life.

We are working, running, striving, and not getting anywhere.

We spend our lives building ourselves up, gathering a following, and then about the time we feel like we’ve made it, the preacher tells us they will leave us and follow another.

We see this happen on the regular in our lives.

We see people put up on pedestals and then before you know it, they are forgotten.

Why would we spend our lives investing in what will cost us?

It doesn’t make sense.

Would you go all-in on a stock knowing that the company was about to go out of business?

Of course, you wouldn’t. That would be crazy.

That is exactly what we are doing when we invest in the things that the world has to offer.

Cars wear out, styles change, and yet, we work ourselves to death to get what will eventually fade away and be forgotten.

Listen for the Lord to speak and do what He tells you.

Ecclesiastes 5:1–3 ESV

1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. 3 For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.

There are many voices right now speaking about how we respond to BLM.

Some speaking words of wisdom and truth.

Some speaking what people want to hear.

And yet others that are spreading false ideologies and hate.

How do we know who to listen to and what to do?

The answer is the same as it has and will always be.

We abide.

Action is good, but only when God tells you to act.

In the midst of all the opinions, it is sometimes hard to know what we should do, how we should feel, and what we should say.

Rather than trying to figure out all that on your own, listen.

God is not unaware or surprised by what is going on.

He is working.

God wants to use us, but we must be careful to listen so that we are doing what God asks of us.

Do we need to be people of action?

Definitely, but we also need to be sure that what we are doing is what God wants us to do.

To jump out and simply do something to try and impress or satisfy God is to offer a sacrifice that God has not asked for.

I understand the desire to want to make a difference, but being rash in word and deed doesn’t help anyone.

You may look the part, but it won’t honor God or accomplish His purposes.

The best, most significant thing we can do right now is to sit before the Lord and listen.

Think about this with me.

We want things to be better.

We want justice for those that were killed.

We want people to stop living in fear.

If we are acting in our own power, we most certainly won’t have much impact.

However, if the Lord speaks and we do what He says, we aren’t operating in our own power, but in the power of God.

He is the solution and He has the power to really change things.

We help others and make a difference in this world by operating with the power of God.

This is how Jesus operated.

He role-modeled for us what it means to stand with the oppressed and walk with the suffering.

How did he do it?

We see Jesus, time and again, going off alone to pray.

He went and spoke with His Father.

The result was a ministry that changed the world.

Luke 4:42 ESV

42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them,

After time with God, Jesus goes and preaches in the synagogues.

Afterward He calls his first disciples.

He is following God’s lead.

Luke 5:16 ESV

16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

right before this verse, Jesus heals a leper and after he confronts the Pharisees and then heals a paralytic.

God is the one calling the shots and working through Jesus.

John 5:19–20 ESV

19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.

Not only does Jesus consult the father but He goes on to say later in that chapter that He can’t do it on his own.

John 5:30 ESV

30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Listen, if Jesus knew that He couldn’t fulfill his ministry on his own, what in the world makes us think that we can.

There are mountains that need to be moved.

We are not able, but God who lives in us is able.

This world doesn’t need more people acting in their own power.

If we are serious about being the change that this world needs, we can do that only by abiding in Christ.

John 14:12–14 ESV

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

What else is there to say?

We can make a difference, but not in our wisdom or power.

We make a difference by allowing the Holy Spirit to work in and through us.

Let’s be like Jesus and go to the Father.

Listen and obey.

“‘Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do...’ The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and what appears to be free choices are actually God’s foreordained decrees. Is this mysterious? Does it appear to contradict sound logic or seem totally absurd? Yes, but what a glorious truth it is to a saint of God.” - Utmost.org, 6/7/20

Let’s pray.